Mandy Hagan, Vice President, State Affairs and Grassroots, Grocery Manufacturers Association, asks the core question of "Is there a problem in feeding 9 billion people?" and rhetorically answer it with "Only if you want to eat".

John Graettinger, Director Food Chain Affairs, Merck Animal Health, aims to address the question of "Will consumers accept new agriculture technologies?" Mr. Graettinger states that consumers do not understand what agricultural technologies exist today and how they work.

Mr. Graettinger offers several examples on how the names of many technologies are not well formed and scare consumers. Mr. Graettinger suggests several changes and challenges people to frame the customer's needs into the messages companies share.

Kim Essex, Senior Vice President, Director, North American Food Practice, Ketchum, shares the stories that science does not always resonate well for consumers with respect to food and agriculture. Using the lead around the idea of "if only everyone recognized farmers' need to feed the world", Ms. Essex looks at what Food 2020 looks like and the messages that consumers hear.

Her take aways: 1) Be a listener, 2) Acknowledge concerns, and 3) Take actions that demonstrate authenticity and accountability.

Dr. Lee Schultz, Iowa State University, talks about the importance of the international beef markets and the growth opportunities that can happen. There are elements of trust that needs to be nurtured over time to help grow the beef markets. Dr. Schultz highlights various metrics of Iowa beef and how they can be the information to help drive international beef growth.

Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University, looks to help producers with marking programs to take advantage of record cattle prices. Dr. Peel talks about the risk and market factors beef producers need to understand and look for opportunities.

Dr. Peel advises that 2015 will continue to have strong prices and herds rebuilding will continue. He also suggests that there will be margin squeeze for feedlots and packers.